afrol News, 7 April - Somaliland troops have fired on opposition party demonstrators in the capital Hargeisa as they marched in front of the party’s headquarters.

The Somaliland's opposition leader and Kulmiye chairman Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, who was among hundreds of supporters walking between the Kulmiye party headquarters to his residence in Hargeisa said a girl was injured during the interception.

Mr Silanyo accused the government of breaking the constitutional provisions by postponing the elections, saying his party will not tolerate intimidations by police as it protests against undemocratic practices in government.

Local reports said angry demonstrators of the Kulmiye opposition party of Somaliland took to the streets of Hargeisa to show their anger against the government which the House of the Guurti, the upper house of the parliament, extended the time of the government with six months.

They also chanted anti-President Dahir Riyale slogans, demanding his resignation from office after failing to hold the presidential elections on time.

However, Mr Riyale has rejected opposition demands to resign, arguing that the House of Guurti's decision for a six-month term extension that ends in October 2009 is legal under the Somaliland's constitution. He has vowed to step down only to an elected president.

Somaliland's constitutional crisis began in mid 2008, when the House of Guurti gave Mr Riyale's government a one-year term extension.

Somaliland unilaterally declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, but it has not been recognised internationally yet.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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